HA NOI (VNS)— All taxis will be required to install black boxes and printers connected to their meters to improve monitoring of the fares charged to passengers, according to a new regulation.

The regulation, which was part of the draft decree on transport trading by the Ministry of Transport, stipulated that the installation of black boxes on taxis must be completed by July.

Also, taxis would have printers to provide meter bills by 2016. Each taxi would be required to record specific schedules and their fares, and a signal box with a light would be set on top of each taxi.

In the draft decree, the ministry also asked the authorities in localities to intensify the management of taxis. Further, the People's Committees of localities would be in charge of stipulating the colour of taxis in their areas.

The ministry also asked local authorities to regulate the number of taxis for each enterprise, which could range between 10 and 100 cars.

The draft decree has been sent for public comments.

Chairman of Ha Noi Transport Association Bui Danh Lien said it was necessary to install black boxes and machines to print receipts in taxis. This would be more convenient for the monitoring agencies and passengers, when seeking to recover lost items or in cases where they claim they were overcharged by taxi drivers.

Lien also agreed with the installation of machines in taxis to print receipts.

"I've researched the market. The cost of installing a machine is not much, but the life of the printers can be up to ten years," he said.

Tran Quoc Khai, CEO of Noi Bai Taxi Company, said his company had used such machines in taxis for years.

"We think that the installation has helped avoiding cheating. Passengers could easily call to complain if a driver overcharged them or provided bad service". — VNS

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